"Hey babe" I smiled at my phone. "What're you up to? Don't you have practice?" I rolled over on my back.

Bandit poked his head up at the movement and immediately jumped on my stomach and cozied himself up on my torso. He laid his head on my chest. This was his favorite position to lay in.

I giggled at him and kissed his head. I continued to stroke his head as I listened to Will.

"Yeah yeah I just finished there. I went to CC with a few of the guys like I normally would. Snowflake, the weirdest thing just happened."

"What?" I asked curiously.

"My mother was there. It was like she was just waiting for me to walk through the door. I stopped in my tracks the moment I saw her. The guys were confused. I didn't know what to do, Cor. I didn't want to keep running away, but I didn't want confront her either. So I just ignored her. I pretended she didn't exist." His voice cracked.

He was on the verge of tears and it was hard to listen to. I wanted so badly to wrap him in my arms and comfort him. I couldn't do anything but listen and that broke me.

"It was fine. We just kind of kept stealing glances at each other. Neither one of us made a move. She walked up to me. All she said was she was sorry and handed me a note. She wants to meet up with me in a hour at CC and I don't know what to do. Should I go or should I throw it away and forget about it? I don't know what to do, please help me." He cried.

"Will, breathe. In and out. In and out." I instructed.

Once he got everything together and was breathing smoothly, I was ready to give him my advice.

"Okay so this obviously stirs up a lot of emotions. I get it, it's very conflicting."

"I feel like if you try to ignore it you won't be able to forget about it, Will. Some part of you deep down wants to know something. You won't be able to get it out of your head. I say you go and see what she has to say. If you don't want to hear about it you can get up and leave whenever you want."

"Thank you, snowflake." He said.

"Will, ultimately this is your decision. Only you can decide what you want to happen. I hope I helped you see a different side to the story. I just want you to know that whatever decision you make I will love and support you." I explained to him.

"I love you too, Snowflake. Thank you for your two cents. I'll call you later and tell you how everything goes or doesn't. Bye babe"

"Bye Will" I smiled to myself. The call ended and I decided I was hungry.

I hopped up from my bed with Bandit and we headed downstairs together. I grabbed a bag of chips from the pantry and hopped up on the counter. Bandit sat at my feet, begging for a chip.

Dad walked in as he buttoned up his shirt. It wasn't overly fancy but it was nicer than his normal attire.

"Can you get off the counter and put those chips up? Make sure nothing fell on the floor. Oh and Bandit needs to go up in his cage for a couple hours tonight. Tell the boys to dress up a little bit, no pjs or dirty clothes." He ranted.

"Dad calm down, what's happening?"i asked him. He was never this uptight over anything. He was always chill and relaxed.

"Harper's parents are coming over for dinner. Their flight lands in thirty minutes. They should be here in an hour or so." He ranted.

I hopped of the counter and grabbed ahold of his shoulders before he could go crazy.

"Dad, breathe. It's okay. It's just a normal dinner. Everything is going to be fine" I assured him.

He took a deep breath.

"I'm just nervous Coco. What if they hate me? What if they don't want me to marry their daughter?"

Marry? I don't know he was thinking about that.

"Dad I promise it's okay. They're going to like you. Who wouldn't? I mean look at you. You're successful, you've raised four kids all on your own, you love your girlfriend and her daughter. You make them happy. I'm sure that all they want for their daughter" I said.

I guess it was just my day for good advice.

"You're right. I make her happy and I love her. If that doesn't make them happy I don't know what will." He said confidently.

"Are you sure Bandy has to go in his cage? I mean look at that cute face." I bent down to his level and kissed his nose.

"No Coco, the dog goes. I don't want him jumping up everywhere." He sighed.

I sighed in defeat. "Okay" I pouted and stood back up. "What's for dinner anyway?"

"Chicken" he answered. "The chicken! I have to start the grill" he freaked out and ran outside.

I rolled my eyes at his behavior and went upstairs to warn the boys. Luckily they were both in the loft. Neither was paying attention to what was happening downstairs.

"Dad is going crazy downstairs right now. Harper parents are flying in and having dinner with us. He said no pjs or dirty clothes. He's crazy stupid nervous, don't do anything stupid to put him over the edge." I said and went to hide in my room until they were here.

***

"Kids get downstairs, they're here!" Dad yelled from downstairs.

I sighed and stood up. Bandit got up with me.

"No sorry buddy you have to stay in here" I kissed his head and left. I had to get away from his puppy dog eyes I couldn't resist.

I hopped downstairs and the boys were down there greeting harpers parents.

"And this is my daughter, Cora" Dad introduced me as I walked down the stairs.

"Nice to meet you" I smiled at the couple.

The woman walked towards me first. She hugged me unexpectedly. "Hi I'm Penny and I'm so excited to meet you. Harper and Sky have told us so much about you."

I laughed awkwardly, not knowing how to fill the empty space

"And I'm Hank. It's lovely to meet you, Cora" he smiled warmly at me. I remember Harper saying he wasn't doing great. I could tell he'd been sick lately but that obviously doesn't stop him.

I was instantly comfortable around the couple. They just seemed like the cutest and kindest couple.

"It's nice to meet the both of you" I smiled at them.

We all retired to the living room as the boys and Dad went outside to check in the chicken. I looked around and noticed the absence of one little nugget.

"Coco!" Sky yelled as she ran out from the direction of the bathroom.

I picked her up and gave her a big hug. "Hey nugget" I said and tickled her tummy. She giggled and pushed my hands back. "How was school?"

"Fun, I made a new friend! His name is Marcus. He's nice unlike the other boys in my class" she crossed her arms.

"We'll that's good." I said. "Are you ready for dinner? I think Daddy said it was almost ready"

She squealed in excitement.

"Sweetie, do you mind setting the table?" Harper asked me.

I nodded and set Sky down. "Of course I will. You spend some time with your parents."

I walked over to the kitchen and set out everything needed for dinner.

Soon enough dinner was ready and we all sat at the table. There was barely enough room for all of us to fit but we made it work comfortably.

"So Cora, I heard you have a boyfriend, is that correct?" Penny asked.

I nodded as I swallowed my chicken. "Yes it is. His name is Will. He goes to college in Indiana so it's a little bit hard, but we make it work. I'm more in love with that kid more than anything in the world" I gushed about him.

"Can I see a picture? Sorry I don't mean to pry"

I shrugged her off and opened up my phone. "Don't worry, I love talking about him." I opened the photo album of him. I handed her the phone. "Scroll left and there's more."

She scrolled through a couple photos and handed the phone back to me.

"He's a handsome one. You better keep him around" she winked at me.

"I plan to" I blushed and smiled at her.

The conversation turned on the boys and their girlfriends and college opportunities. I haven't really thought about college and I don't want to.

Of course I want to go to Notre Dame and be with Will. I also want to stay close to home.

I felt my phone buzz. It was Will. I was essentially done eating. There was hardly anything left.

"Dad, can I be excused? It's Will." I explained shortly.

He nodded understandingly. "Yeah yeah go ahead. Wash your plate first please" he said.

"Thank you" I kissed his cheek. "It was nice meeting you Penny and Hank."

I ran upstairs. Bandy was definitely happy when I walked in. I hoped on my bed and Bandy followed. I called Will back.

"Hey babe" I said cheerfully into the phone speaker.

"She told me everything about why she left and what made her never come back. Snowflake you might want to grab a bowl of popcorn." He said.

I sat up curiously. What could be so interesting.

"The beginning of the story doesn't happen when she left, but instead when my mother and dad met. She was in a bad place and she did drugs and drank alcohol daily. It was pretty bad, the way she explained it to me. Then she met my dad and her whole world changed. He got her cleaned up and they fell in love"

Not gonna lie it sounded like a cute love story.

"Fast forward four years they got pregnant with me and eloped, essentially. My grandparents and immediate family are the only ones that came. Anyway, when I was about three my mother was diagnosed as clinically depressed. It caused a rift between the two of them."

That's so sad. I nodded along to the story so he know I was listening to him.

"Soon enough, just as I had turned four years old, my mother fell into a deeper depression and relapsed on drugs. Dad had no idea, he just wanted to help her through her depression. She got scared. She knew she wasn't capable of raising me or being with my dad anymore. So she left. Just like that. No note. No heads up. Just gone."

I couldn't possibly understand what was going through her mind or how she was weighing out her options or anything. But could the drugs have effected for judgement?

"She left my dad to raise me all on his own. I'm sure it must've been a really hard time for him. Anyway, she got back in with the wrong crowd. Drugs, alcohol, and all lot of other things."

"This life drained her and wore her down. She finally had enough and got the help she needed. She got herself clean and started a new clean slate. She couldn't find us. We left and it had been years at that point. I had to be in third or fourth grade by then. She took as a sign and moved on."

He ended the story and was a little out of breath.

"Wow that was one hell of a story" I said. "Sad I missed the popcorn opportunity" I teased lightly.

I heard him half chuckle on the other side of the phone.

"Yeah it was. You wanna know the worst part?"

I nodded. "She looked for us for a whole year and couldn't find us. She remembered us. She remembered me. This whole time I though she turned around and never looked back, but turns out she was always looking over her shoulder"

"Will I know it sucks, but now you know the truth. Now you can fix what happens in the future and stop being fixated on the past." I encouraged him.

He nodded. "You're right." He looked over to his side, mostly likely at his alarm clock. "I have to get to bed though. I have a really early morning tomorrow and I need the sleep. I love you, snowflake. I'll talk to you again later" he blew a kiss at me. I pretended to catch it and place it to my heart.

"I love you William" I whispered into the phone as the call ended.